Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-08-03
THE SWORD.
Something About the blades of
All Ages and Nations.
New Orleans Picayune.l

CS NMu NALhOnSs
New Orleans Picayune.l
For thousands of years, and until
the invention of gunpowder, the
sword was the chief weapon used i'm
battle. A collection of the swords OF
all ages and of all nations would be OF
extreme interest. 1t would embrace
the stone swords of the American alb
origines, pointed and double-edged.
twenty-five inches long in the blade,
which was, with marvellous skill
wrought from flint-stone, and of
which one of the most magnifice
specimens extant is in the fine private
museum of DIR. Joseph Jones, of this
city. There would be also the bronze
swords of the early Greeks and of
the Teutonic races; the short,
stout sword of the Romans, with
its dou uble-edged blade, nineteen inches
long of steel tempered by Celtiberian
smiths, carried to Italy from the Span
ish peninsula; prominent would be
the long two-handed swords of England
in the time of Richard the Lion
Hearted, with blades nearly five feet
long, the weapon being to the back
and being drawn over the left shoulder.
The sword of Richard naturally sug-
gested the scimitar of Saladin with its
Damascus blade curved like the cres-
cent it so ably fought for. Such a col
lection would not be complete without
the sword of the South Sea Islander,
made OF wood, its edges set with sharks s
teeth orsplinters of obsidian in serrated
rows, terribly formidable when used
ON the naked body OF foe.
The sword represents SO much in
war, history and romance that it brings
up an endless array of interesting and
imposing events. All the early people
used a shield to repel attacks with the
sword, but after the Middle Ages the
art of fencing, probably derived from
India, was developed to such de-
gree that the shield could be dispensed
with, and the sword became both
sword and shield. All the readers of
the incompatible romances of Alex
ander Dumas will remember the phe-
nomenal fencing Of the celebrated
guardsmen.
The Orientals are the only people
who specially sharpen their swords.
Their curved blades, made as keen as
razors, are terribly formidable to men
not protected by steel armor. In the
celebrated trial of skill between the
English king and the Saracen sultan,
as related by the immortal Walter
Scott, the English champion, by main
force, cleft helmets and chopped
through at one blow an iron mace,
while the Saracen, with his keen blade,
cut through shreds of silk gauze as
they floated the air. In regard to the
use OF sharp blades for weapons, it is
possible that the partiality of the
American negro for a razor is due to
the presence of the Oriental passion
for keen-bladed swords. 1t has also
been suggested in this connection that
the razor, except where special stat
utes on the subject exist, not being
considered weapon, could be carried
without suspicion or hindrance, hence
its use by the negro. A correspondent
from India, writing to the English Ne
ehaaic on the wonderful sword prac-
tice, says:
1.-The quiet dweller in Europe will
scarcely believe the prodigies per-
formed in sword cutting by these
coarse, ill-looking bits of curved
metal, costing frequently no more
than Is &c to IS. had shot numer-
ous wild beasts, when / was told by
an expert that my hunting education
was very deficient as | could not
handle a scimitar to stop my game.
| was told to exercise continually on u
pillar OF soft clay, and thus acquire
the drawing cut at the proper part of
the blade; then on pillar loosely
stuffed with cotton then on a newly
killed wild cat or jackal, kneaded
previous to the practice by the feet of
a heavy man till the carcass became a
soft mass, then on great pond carp,
a fish clad with heavy, horny scales,
like elastic mail-considered an Al
feat to test man and sword. My first
trial at this experience resulted in
triple fracture of the good blade, sun
dry scales flying in the air, uncut,
only dislodged; then the artistic
toW de force at paper cones placed
on table, and muslin thrown up to
height-all manner of strange and
difficult tasks, which, being only orna-
mental, l eventually forsook for the
useful and more easy decapitation of
fierce quadrupeds, beginning with a
wounded wild hog of full growth, and
on essaying the sloping stroke behind
the ear, sweeping off the head neatly,
that important part dropping behind
the forefeet. Not long before l had
seen bold young Ghoorka dismount
from his elephant, leaving it standing
to await his return, and follow on foot
alone an immense boar he had
wounded with his rifle. On nearin.
the powerful brute it -champed its
foaming tlsks to charge. He drew
his kookre (or Nepauless sword), and
as it sprang at him the blade was
buried across piggy's back, all but
severing him in two parts"
The sword, in modern warfare, is
getting to be mere badge of office,
and a proposition is said, some time
ago, to have been made to strip the
infantry officer in the French army
of his sword and give him something
to shoot with. The manufacture of
swords all over the world is repre-
sented to have declined visibly, and it
is stated that there isnot in the United
States to-day single establishment
where sword blades are made, unless
it NAV be that sabers for the C avalry
are manufactured in the United States
armory at Springfield, Mass.
J,,ha fo,i ia m. prop erly dtgested It be-